This invention relates generally to a ram attachment for a lift truck to enable the ram to engage and lift coiled stock, spools and the like, all of which have a hollow center.
Lift trucks or hi-lo trucks are commonly used in industrial applications. One common use of these trucks, when they are fitted with a fork attachment, is the lifting and moving of pallets. For this reason, the lift trucks are often called fork-lift trucks. The fork lift attachment is "L" shaped including a vertical member and an outwardly extending horizontal member attached to the bottom of the vertical member.
When lift trucks are equipped with two fork-lift attachments, they are unsatisfactory for lifting coiled stock. This is because it is necessary to move the fork attachments next to each other in front of the truck so that the prongs are together when they enter the hollow center of the stock. When this is done and the stock is lifted, the vertical members of the fork-lift attachment obstructs the vision of the operator of the lift truck. Even if one fork lift attachment was removed and the other utilized to lift the coiled stock, the vertical member still obstructed the operator's vision.
Several solutions to the problem of obstructed vision have been attempted in the past. A first attempt was to equip the truck with outwardly extending mirrors attached at an angle so that the operator of the truck could look into the mirrors and see in front of the truck. This solution, however, required the operator of the lift truck to be looking both straight ahead and at the mirrors when the coil stock was being lifted and subsequently lowered and, hence, was not satisfactory as it required the operator of the lift truck to constantly turn his head to look both straight ahead and into the mirror thus interrupting the concentration of the operator of the truck. Also, the mirrors are impractical when the lift truck is used outdoors in inclement weather.
To overcome this problem, a second solution was to utilize two persons in the cab of the lift truck. The first person would operate the lift truck and the second person would be required to dismount from the lift truck and direct the truck operator from a position on the ground where the second person could observe the coil stock and simultaneously be observed by the truck operator. This, of course, increased the cost of operation of the equipment.
Since these solutions are not satisfactory, the present invention provides a ram attachment for a lift truck to engage and lift coiled stock without obstructing the vision of the operator of the lift truck.